MU | Features
S he lives in Southern California , where the car culture is as much a thing of blood and bone as sunshine , palm trees and the murmur of film industry gossip .
What the Peace Corps did for Judy Minnich ’ 68 Stout was inoculate her against that culture .
Everyone drives in her hometown of San Diego , usually with the top down and the radio blaring . Judy does not . A retired schoolteacher whose passion for travel , learning and service to the wider world was piqued at Manchester , she got used to the non-vehicular life while serving with the Peace Corps in China , and when she came home in 2012 she decided she could do without her wheels .
“ The Peace Corps does not allow you to drive ,” she says . “ So for the past four years , I ’ ve been living without a car , and it ’ s been great . It ’ s been really , really good , and it ’ s given me a lot of insight into people who can ’ t afford a car . It keeps me fit and keeps me mentally fit as well .”
This is typical of Judy , for whom age is less a matter of chronology than attitude . It ’ s why , after teaching French and German for 17 years at Patrick Henry High School in San Diego , she joined the Peace Corps upon retirement and was assigned to China . She was 63 years old .
She was also uniquely qualified by both experience and birthright .
Münster , Germany , during the 2007-08 school year .
“ The sense of service was a very important part of my life and that was nurtured and fostered at Manchester University ,” Stout says . “ For example , while I was at Manchester , I tutored at the local elementary school and I also served as editor in chief of the Oak Leaves when I was a sophomore . It ’ s a form of service because it ’ s long hours and it ’ s a lot of extra responsibilities . And I enjoyed that .”
China was next .
“ I said , ‘ Well , if Mary could do it in her 60s , then certainly I could ,’” Stout says . “ I had always wanted to . It hadn ’ t been a recent wish . And I think I was just waiting for retirement to do it .
“ The challenges of living abroad in a different culture and all were very simple for me . I know that some of the volunteers who were younger – the youngest was 22 and right out of college – really had difficulty adjusting because they had never really been abroad . They had never had to adjust to a different culture . But I knew it was something that would actually teach me a lot .”
Once there , her duties were twofold : to teach conversational American English to college students and to coach her English teaching colleagues . In addition she studied Mandarin with two local tutors . As a linguist she was
eager to learn another language , which she actually began studying before she left for China . She also kept a blog during her time there , building on a passion for writing awakened during her Oak Leaves days .
Along the way , she grew close to her handlers , one of whom wound up teaching Mandarin to children in the Denver area for two years before moving to Hong Kong , where she ’ s a Ph . D . candidate in translation studies . She and Judy remain close – not an unusual circumstance , given the all-encompassing concept of family Judy experienced in China .
Like kicking the car habit , it was something Judy brought home with her . She now lives with her grown sons , although one works abroad much of the time .
“ I came home from China with a very different attitude about the multi-generational household and embraced it fully ,” she says .
Along with much else .
By Benjamin Smith
At age 63 , Judy Minnich ’ 68 Stout ( below and on opposite page ) joined the Peace Corps after her retirement as a high school French and German teacher . She says Manchester helped nurture her sense of service .
Her aunt , Mary Blocher Smeltzer , had served two years in the Peace Corps in Botswana in the 1970s . And Judy had traveled abroad herself – first as a student at Manchester , where she spent a year in Strasbourg , France , on her way to a B . A . in French , and later as a Fulbright Exchange teacher while at Patrick Henry . She taught in Michelstadt , Germany , during the 2003-04 school year , and in
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